Demographics of Mothers Donating to a Nonprofit Human Milk Bank in Australia

Donated human milk is the preferred alternative source of nutrition when infants born preterm do not have access to enough maternal breast milk. Around the world, human milk banks have been established to ensure that vulnerable infants can access safe supplies of donor human milk. Milk donors are the foundation of milk banking, and understanding who donates milk in different settings is important for creating sustainable donor milk services. This study aimed to describe milk donors and donation characteristics to a nonprofit donor human milk service operated by Australia's national blood service (Lifeblood).

This retrospective cohort study used routinely collected data from Lifeblood's donor milk service over its first 6 years of operations, from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2024. Records from all milk donors registered as of 30 June 2024 were included.

During the study period, 1794 women donated 23 714 L of human milk to Lifeblood. This includes 45 bereaved donors. The mean age for a milk donor was 32.4 ± 4.6 years (range 18.4-51.6 years). Donors with preterm births were over-represented compared to the general Australian population (29.4% vs. 8.6%). Among 1501 nonbereaved, completed donors, mean total donation volume was 13.4 L [range 0.5-229.1 L]. Donors provided the majority of their donations when their own infant was aged 1-3 months.

This study provides the first description of characteristics of milk donors and their donations in Australia. These data will help inform donor recruitment strategies, particularly if need for pasteurised donor human milk increases in the future.